1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information processing apparatus having transmitting means for transferring data of a job formed on the basis of application data to a printer via interface means, job processing method and program, and a computer-readable memory medium.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, generally, a dedicated reset signal line is prepared for an interface (parallel I/F, USB, etc.) for connecting a printer and a computer and a job which is being printed can be cancelled by issuing a reset signal.
After the reset signal is issued, a setting of the printer is returned to an initial value and a next print job can be normally started.
However, in such an environment designed on the assumption that the printer is shared by a network, there is an environment such that the reset signal cannot be issued. This is because it is intended to avoid a risk of stopping printing of a third party possible when a resetting process is indiscriminately executed.
In such an environment, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-166892, there has been proposed a method whereby in place of transmitting the reset signal upon cancellation of the print job, whether a data block of the print job has been completed or not is discriminated and if it is not completed, complementary data is formed, the data block is completed, and a process for cancelling the print job is executed.
The complementary data will now be described. The complementary data corresponds to data for shifting the printer to a state where the data transfer of the print job subsequent to the cancellation of predetermined print data can be normally restarted. For example, there is a problem such that when the transfer of the print data to the printer is stopped halfway, if the complementary data is not supplied to the printer, the printer enters a waiting state for reception of a continuation of an incomplete command, the head of the next print data is erroneously regarded as subsequent data, and unnecessary dust printing is executed. There is another problem such that even if the command has been completed, since a form feed code is not received, the next printing is started from a halfway position of paper without delivering the paper.
Therefore, the complementary data prevents such inconvenience. The complementary data is constructed by: data to complete the incomplete command in the print data which remains in the printer and whose stop has been instructed; a command (to reset the setting upon printing) to allow the printer to deliver a page by a paper delivery command of FF (paper delivery) and, further, finish the print job; and the like.
However, there is also a printer in which, in the case of sending the reset signal and cancelling the printing, the interface is set to a busy status and the initializing operation is certainly executed.
In this case, there is a problem such that the next print job cannot be printed until the initializing operation is finished.
If two kinds of print system environments of a case where the reset signal can be issued and a case where the reset signal cannot be issued exist, there is also a problem such that it is impossible to execute a desired cancelling process according to the environment. In a printing environment in which a plurality of cancelling methods exist, it is necessary to individually form a print control system corresponding to each of the cancelling methods, so that large development costs are necessary.
As a case where the problems as mentioned above are particularly presumed, a version environment of an operating system can be mentioned. For example, in the operating systems of various versions which are provided as operation environments of the user such as Windows 2000 (registered trademark), Windows XP, and the like, there are an OS which supports the reset signal and an OS which does not support the reset signal every version of those OSs. Therefore, in the operating system of a certain version, it is necessary to prepare a software module (which, for example, corresponds to a data transmission control program in the embodiment), which uses the reset signal. In the print system that operates by the operating system, which does not support the reset signal, there is a problem such that it is necessary to prepare a software module designed so as to use the complementary data and large development costs and a long time are necessary.
Further, although a supporting form such that a printer device of a predetermined apparatus type corresponds to the operating system of the latest version is generally used, there is a problem such that even if the operating system of a new version corresponds to the reset signal, since the printer device which was sold when the correspondence to the reset signal was not made has inherently not been designed to correspond to the reset signal, even if the reset signal is supported by the operating system by which the print system operates, an error occurs if the reset signal is used in the printer device.
Also with respect to the interfaces, various types of standards exist and whether the reset signal is supported or not is different every type of interface. There is a problem such that even in the case of the type of interface which supports the reset signal, there is also a case where the reset signal cannot be used in dependence on the version of the operating system, and hitherto, it is necessary to prepare a software module to instruct the resetting every combination of the operating system and the type of interface, so that large development costs and a long time are necessary.
Since various cases are presumed as environments in which the print system operates as mentioned above, in such a situation, it is demanded to realize a software module (which, for example, corresponds to the data transmission control program in the embodiment) which can be used irrespective of the difference of the environments and can make a general reset instruction.
Particularly, it is demanded to realize a software module (which, for example, corresponds to the data transmission control program in the embodiment) which can make a general reset instruction and can be used irrespective of the version of the operating system, the specification of the printer device on its sale, and an arbitrary combination of the types of interfaces as mentioned above.
Further, in the case of the method of executing the cancelling process by sending the complementary data as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-166892, there is a problem such that if the interface enters a busy status due to a no-paper error or the like on the printer side, predetermined complementary data cannot be sent from the information processing apparatus side and the cancelling process cannot be executed.